The Mind Creative JANUARY 2015 | Page 29

According to forbes.com: “It’s the Romans who are most famous for their fantastic feasting. In the 1st century AD, Emperor Vitellius produced an enormous platter called The Shield of Minerva, which included pike livers, pheasant and peacock brains, flamingo tongues, lamprey spleens and other luxury ingredients gathered from all corners of his empire. Other emperors played expensive tricks on their guests. In the 3rd century, Heliogabalus, renowned for enjoying cruel jokes, served up grains of gold mixed in with the peas, and amethysts, rubies and pearls in other dishes. The guests were allowed to keep the jewels in compensation for their wrecked teeth. At another banquet, Heliogabalus almost smothered his guests by raining down perfumed rose petals over them.” Times have changed and you would think that indulgence in opulent foods would be rare and possibly on the decline. However, evidence in the modern times suggests otherwise. Opulent and extravagantly expensive foods and ingredients can be found across the world. The price of ingredients are, of course, based on their supply and the availability. These exorbitant ingredients are then used to create foods whose prices are well beyond our imagination. So how much would you pay for food? A few hundred dollars for an unimaginable burger or an extravagant pizza? Possibly, by a good stretch of your imagination, a thousand dollars, for a rare and exotic food ingredient? Well you might be surprised with the answers when you read this article that looks at some of the most expensive foods and ingredients in the world. Please note, that all prices are in US dollars. 29